A newly revealed patent from late last year shows that Apple is working on a way to let iPhone and iPod users play games while still be able to control the devices other functions. More specifically Apple appears to be working on a way to use the touchscreen to control two apps at the same time.

Hence, a person can use the same input area (e.g., a top surface or plane of a physical input device such as a touch screen) to multitask. In other words, the person can, for example, play a game and exercise control over another application (e.g., media playback application) using the same input area.

This is significant for two reasons. First, it shows that Apple is definitely working on some innovative games that take advantage of the touchscreen. Second, it shows that Apple is delving deeper into the world of Multi-touch, a technology which looks to have very large impact over the next decade in computing.